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Editorial: Probe of the IRS needs to continue

Carlsbad Current-Argus

Posted:
04/25/2014 08:02:17 AM MDT

When Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee voted to refer former Internal Revenue Service officer Lois Lerner to the Justice Department for possible prosecution, they got no help from Democrats.

"It now seems clear that Republican members of the Ways and Means Committee have decided they do not want to be left behind in the Republican campaign to declare this a scandal and keep it going until November," said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Michigan.

Declare this a scandal? Really? A high-ranking IRS official has repeatedly exercised her Fifth Amendment right — the right not to give testimony that could be used to her detriment in a criminal trial — when asked if her office singled out groups for extra scrutiny based on their political views.

The IRS did, in fact, single out conservative organizations — those that used words like "patriot" or "tea party" in their names. And Democrats say there should be no further investigation because the Justice Department took a cursory glance and declared, "Nothing wrong here."

If there's nothing wrong, why is Lerner pleading the Fifth?

There can be no doubt that Republican outrage is partly fueled by partisan fervor. That hardly makes them unique. Just about every investigation of a scandal in the federal government is propelled by the party that stands to gain from it.

You can bet the Democrats blase attitude would change dramatically if the groups being singled out were left-wing organizations that usually support Democrats.

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This shouldn't be about whose ox is being gored. Using a government agency to silence, stifle or harass political opponents is as serious as it gets with regard to abuse of power. It's the kind of thing you would expect to see in Central America or West Africa, not in the United States.

The Justice Department needs to find out what Lerner is hiding. The IRS shouldn't be acting as a political operative for either party.